Accessibility Testing with Attest for iOS 1.2.0

Let’s deep dive into the Deque’s WorldSpace Attest for iOS product. If you’re not familiar with Attest, it’s an automated testing toolkit for HTML, iOS, and Android that enables developers to test for accessibility.

This video will also cover a quick introduction to our free trial repository so that native mobile developers can run automated accessibility tests on their code as part of their regular integration and unit testing processes. Most importantly, we will review our new version of Attest for iOS 1.2.0 and how Subject Matter Experts can run accessibility reports in their browser without having to have access to the desktop version of the application.

Follow along here in my recorded walk-through if you’d like:

Getting Started

First, let’s navigate to the GitHub for our Attest for iOS application. This is the primary demo application for this native iOS analysis product. It also fetches a free version of our Attest iOS Analysis Library. Let’s start GitHub, this is a good place for starting if you’re interested in the Attest for iOS product. There are four releases of this product. If you attended the introductory webinar just a couple weeks ago, we demonstrated the 1.1.2 version of Attest for iOS. Right now, we are currently in the 1.2.0 release.

Subject Matter Desktop Workflow in the 1.2.0 Release

In this new release, we added a new feature that will be helpful for Subject Matter Experts. The subject matter expert workflow allows users to have access to the HTML report. This new feature allows subject matter experts to get that HTML report without using the Desktop client. Let’s review this new feature by demoing the application. First, open up the demo app in Xcode and create a fresh clone right on the 1.2.0 tag release. Pay close attention to these two lines referring to Attest.StartServer and Attest.StartHTTPServer at the bottom of the build. These are the services that will attach themselves to your application and allow you to do accessibility analysis. Notice in this build we still have the capability of doing those automated test cases and building it to your unit tests. We will be focusing on this new line here: Attest.StartHTTPServer on port 8080.

Notice there is this Desktop client application, this is the version that we’ve had in the past. You can still go into this Desktop client application and scan for devices, connect to the simulator, and get results the way that you’re used to getting them (if you have access to this Desktop client). The new feature allows subject matter experts to open up a browser and do the same process by going to localhost:8080/report/analyze.html. Remember, this is the port that we focused on earlier. Next, you can bring up the simulator, this is where that server’s running, that port 8080 is connecting to our local host simulator. You could also connect this to a forwarded device that’s sitting next to you. Additionally, if you have a device where it’s connected to Wi-Fi you can connect it if you know the device’s IP address.

Example: Contrast Alpha Blend

Let’s review how to use this browser version as a subject matter experts for the Contrast Alpha Blend example. You may click Analyze in the browser port and the report will populate in the browser. This is the report for our simulator view, the report states all foreground text must have sufficient contrast between it and the background colors behind it, in accordance with WCAG 2.0 AA contrast ratio standards. You may notice the Visible Text control reports that it is Failing Text.

The important and the new part of this product update is that subject matter experts may do this all within a browser and they don’t have to have access to this Desktop client. Ultimately, these results are going to give us the same reports. Notice, this browser version has an updated version of the aXe UI components back here. If you’re familiar with our Attest browser extension, this UI is what you’re used to operating. If you have any questions about the product or how to run the free trial, feel free to contact us, our experts are always willing to help.

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About Chris McMeeking

Chris McMeeking is a software engineer and architect at Deque Systems, leading development efforts on Deque’s native mobile accessibility analysis products. His journey in accessibility began through a project at the University of Michigan, The ASK Scanning Keyboard. This application won multiple awards including the $100,000 Intel Innovator’s Award, runner up at the Mobile World Congress, and the Student of Da Vinci award from the Multiple Sclerosis foundation. Chris is the lead developer behind the Android Analyzer, and an active member of the task force developing these new accessibility mobile standards.